Buffer/Propositional

Introduction

A buffer is an information store. It is a place where information can be
put for later retrieval. Buffers are appropriate for both short term storage
(as in modelling working memory, for example) and long term storage (as in
large knowledge bases). They can be configured, through sub-classes and
properties, so as to behave in a variety of different ways (allowing, for
example, decay of elements or capacity restrictions).

Propositional buffers are buffers whose elements are symbolic propositions.
There are no restrictions on the content that the propositional elements may
represent. Other supported types of buffer are analogue, table,
graph and stack.

Recall that all information must be represented in COGENT via Prolog terms. Buffer elements are no
exception, but they are perhaps the simplest sorts of box elements in COGENT.
This is reflected in the simplicity of the buffer element editor. Apart from
the comment line, it contains a single text field into which the buffer
element should be typed. The contents of this field should be a valid Prolog term. If not, however, COGENT does
automatic syntax checking (and attempted correction) of editor elements, and
so any error will be noted and (possibly) corrected.